>>>If you go that route you will have females with babies nursing on her and you have babies living in her. She will be undernourished and she will always be being drained by her young in her and under her. I am pretty sure rats breed this in the wild but I have not heard that being fact. I am going this direction: It definitely keeps the numbers down and is definitely more expensive. I breed and than let mom have her babies and when I wean 3 to 4 weeks later I than put her back in the pregnancy mode. I am just as new at this as you so I am trying this first. It definitely sucks doing it this way because you are feeding the females for weeks while they are not producing babies. We are probably talking about 3 to 5 dollars a month but that does add up. The money is not near the issue for me as it is the fact that I know what I am feeding my snakes now. I have talked with many breeders that breed this way and they feel the way I do. They want to feel that they are doing everything possible to keep their rats in the best shape >>>possible.

I first want to say that I respect your thoughts but after thirty mumble mumble years of doing this I am gonna add some of mine.

You girls are gonna go infertile about 6 or 7 months down the road and have half as many litters with all that sitting around getting fat and watching tv. Justy ratty facts. Are your raising feeders or pets?

Do I believe they have any opinion about their being bred constantly or not?.....no. They are rats, not people.

If you are feeding correctly you will have healthy well conditioned breeders regardless. I cull off my breeders as Jumbos...they are monsters, not boney thin worn out shells.

Rats, like most of the earth's creatures, will reproduce to whatever extent their resources allow. Lemmings, think lemmings, and check out their life cycles. Why do they overpopulate? Resources . You are supplying your beasties food and water....it is always nirvana for them so of course they are gonna breed constantly. If they were undernourished they will reabsorb or eat pups.....change your diet, something is wrong with it.

I talked to a Mazuri supplier/salesman once....said I found on their foods my rats tended to cannabalize. He said feed more cat kibble mixed in. HELLO! Why am I buying your food then? Now this was years ago and things change. But I still feed by feel and tweak diets for each enclosure. Dog kibble, cat kibble, sunflower seed, stale breakfast cereal...Just how it works for me.-----Sonya